Posts by Thomas

Just a quick follow up to last week’s post on the Green Computing Debate hosted online by The Register.

The debate brought up some excellent points, and thankfully managed to (by and large) avoid cliche. Survey results presented by Dale Vile of Freeform Dynamics showed that despite significant growth in eco-awareness, many businesses are still ignoring ecological concerns in their day to day work. Sadly, greenwashing is still prevalent in many workplaces, when a true greening of the business could be just as straightforward.

Representatives of both Dell and Intel showed what they are currently doing to ensure their product is the greenest of them all, and their future plans look very promising indeed, both concentrating on better power management systems. Albert Esser, of Dell, looked at why better power management systems are important, whilst Kevin O’Donovan of Intel explained how these systems might be implemented. All in all, they were two very promising presentations.

Tech kit gets old quick. We all know that. Louise Richards of Computer Aid International spent fifteen very interesting minutes looking at possible solutions to the endless cycle of buy-use-dump-replace. A highly recommended presentation.

The whole debate has been archived on The Register, so if you fancy taking a look, head over to The Register Green Computing Debate, and take in some of the presentations.

The traditionally incompatible worlds of computing and the green movement have, in recent years slowly started to sidle up to each other, and are set to become quite keen bedfellows. With everyone from IBM to Apple taking steps to green their organisation, and more and more people realising that those promoting the green cause may actually have a point, Green is clearly big business in the world of IT.

Against this backdrop of technological eco-awareness, The Register are running their first Green Computing Debate tonight (February 27th). It aims to “give you the chance to find out how the great Green rush is going to affect you”. You will have the opportunity to have your say about the movement, and find out what the options are for making your tech more eco-friendly.

The whole thing takes place online tonight at 6pm, and you can register for free here. Don’t worry if you can’t make it, we’ll be keeping an eye on the whole thing, and summarising the main findings tomorrow.

It is now impossible to walk down the high street or through a shopping mall without seeing the mark made by multinational coffee companies, which have in recent years made coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil.

The difference, however, in the price we pay for our latte or cappuccino, and the price paid to the farmers of the original bean, is so extreme that many farmers have been forced to give up the coffee fields as it is simply no longer viable to continue.

In Black Gold, British filmmakers Marc and Nic Francis follow the fate of Tadesse Meskela as he travels the world in an attempt to find buyers willing to pay a fair price for the coffee produced by the 74,000 farmers he represents.

Black Gold receives it’s UK network television premiere tonight (26/02/08)at 10pm on More4, and is certainly recommended viewing for anyone who cares about where their coffee comes from.

Trailer after the jump

“The threat from climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge facing our world. Without decisive and urgent action, it has the potential to be an economic disaster and an environmental catastrophe. This is why I have made it a top priority for this Government, both domestically and internationally.”
Tony Blair, March 2007

These are the opening words of the Climate Change Bill, which finally goes before parliament this Spring. The Bill has been the subject of extensive campaigns from over fifty organisations going under the I-Count banner for a number of years, as it offers a huge opportunity for the UK government to make a firm commitment to cutting the nation’s emissions.
More after the jump

The internet is the home of some great ideas (and admittedly, some rubbish ones, but we’ll not go there), but few come close to the total and utter brilliance of Freecycle, a network of users with one sole aim – to stop stuff going to landfill by passing it on to others who might need it.

The Freecycle mission statement is simple – “To build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community.” Here at HowEthical! this is something we feel very strongly about. So strongly, in fact, that I decided to give Freecycle a try, and trust me, it is fantastic.

Over the course of the past six weeks, I have become a regular participant in the Newcastle group, both as a giver and a receiver, and the system works in ways I could never have imagined. Gone from my garage to good homes is a flatbed scanner, a cd burner, some board games, a load of old cuddly toys and a number of rolls of wallpaper, whilst heading in my direction has been a brand new glass television stand, a futon and a 20″ computer monitor and some wood for a highly geeky DIY project I am undertaking. The system really works.

The whole system is based around email lists. Users receive emails from other members, either individually or as a daily digest, which detail offers or requests. If you see something you want, or something you want rid of, you reply directly to the sender, and do the deal. With the groups being organised geographically, you are never too far away from the person you are dealing with, and the number of trades being done each day can be huge.

To check it out for yourself, and join your local group, head on over to www.freecycle.org. I’ll warn you though, it’s can get just a little bit addictive.

A group in Newcastle is at the forefront of a new way of campaigning which looks to tap into popular culture to get the message across about issues such as trade justice, arms control and climate change. Oxfam Outreach attends gigs, festivals and other events, simply talking to people and spreading the message.

Having recognised that music fans are often sympathetic to their aims, Oxfam Outreach have harnessed this potential, and used it to great advantage. So far, teams of Outreachers have campaigned at gigs such as Snow Patrol, Embrace, Richard Ashcroft, BellX1, Kaiser Chiefs, Corinne Bailey Rae, The Cooper Temple Clause and How Ethical! favourite, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly , as well as events such as the Newcastle Mela and Newcastle Green Festival. Upcoming events include festivals such as Womad, V-Festival, and many more. They are also keen supporters of the Just Fair Laughs comedy night, which takes place in Shearer’s Bar on the first Sunday of each month, and aims to raise awareness through comedy.

North-East Outreach Co-ordinator Heather Duff said “Campaigning is fun and it really does work. It’s a great way to get people involved, and we find that the response rates at the events are fantastic”.

In return for their hard work, Outreachers are provided with free gig and event tickets, as well as a feeling of a job well done. If you are interested in getting involved contact Heather Duff on outreachne@oxfam.org.uk or sign up on their website at www.oxfam.org.uk/outreach, which also contains more information on the programme.

For those not in the North East, there are also Outreach programmes in London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds and Scotland, and more information can be found on the website.

I had the pleasure of spending the past weekend at the Latitude Festival, on the beautiful Henham Park Estate, in Southwold, Suffolk. It was a superb festival, to say the least, and the sun shone all weekend, so the wellies stayed firmly in the rucksack, which was nice after the muddy mess that was Glastonbury.

What really made me smile this weekend was that the festival has made a huge effort to reduce its impact on the environment by introducing a number of new measures, some of which are just genius. The biggest change was in the way the bars worked. Obviously festival goers are a thirsty bunch, and go through a fair few pints of beer / cider / lager / whatever. One of the biggest problems with this is that it is normally served in single-use plastic glasses which end up strewn around the site making a mess and causing problems for the litter-pickers. By introducing a re-usable, more durable plastic glass, for which they asked a £2 deposit, the organisers ensured that the beautiful parkland was not blighted by this most common of problems, and that less plastic ended up in landfill. Why it hasn’t been done before, I don’t know.

The other big change was the introduction of a three bin system for waste. Festival-goers were asked to split there waste into ‘Recyclable’, ‘Compostable, and ‘Neither’, a system which was well adhered to, and by the end of the weekend the ‘Neither’ bins were by far the most empty. Another scheme to bring back next year then.

Transport was also looked at, and recognising the fact that public transport is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to get to the festival, a day-ticket holder campsite was introduced, which allowed those who weren’t camping all weekend to camp for one night, and use public transport to get home the next day, as evening buses around Southwold aren’t all that regular.

All in all, Latitude seems very keen to promote green issues, and the steps taken this year will no doubt be adopted by other Mean Fiddler festivals in the future, and I look forward to them being the norm, rather than the exception.

Here at How Ethical! we’ll be keeping a closer eye on McDonald’s from now on, after their announcement this morning that they are in the process of converting all of their delivery fleet to run on biodiesel, using their abundant supply of used cooking oil.

Over the course of the next year, they plan to convert all 155 of their delivery vehicles, and they estimate that this will save more than 1,650 tonnes of carbon each year.

After moving away from polystyrene packaging, to a biodegradable alternative, this move signals that McDonald’s may be serious about facing up to their environmental responsibility, and it is a move which is sure to be welcomed by those who see big businesses as key in the fight against climate change.

So a tentative thumbs up to McDonald’s – we’ll be watching this one closely.

Thanks to BBC News for the original story.

So, after five days of typically variable British weather, I returned home in the early hours of yesterday morning sunburnt and coated in mud. With Glastonbury Festival over for another year, the only thing left to do is sum it all up.

Read the rest of All the filth, none of the fury »

Well, as I said in my last post, my no mud predication was slightly inaccurate. Yesterday we were mocked by the weather gods for a third festival in a row, as the heavens opened, producing a lovely inch thick layer of fresh mud across the site. Glastonbury being the feel good place that it is though, everyone is taking it in their stride, and having a bloody good time anyway. It helps that most people seem to have heeded the weather warnings, and wellies are the must have fashion accessory this summer.

Glastonbury continues to prove it’s commitment to the environment, with the Green Police on site to ensure recycling facilities are provided, and the litter pickers were definitely earning their free ticket this morning, pulling empty beer cups out of the mud to ensure they didn’t get buried. Top marks all round so far.

The music started yesterday, and highlights were plentiful. Reverend and the Makers made the sun come out on the Other Stage, and I have no problem in saying that they are the best new band in Britain. Arcade Fire played a stormer on the same stage late on, with their neo-biblical eulogising suiting the conditions perfectly, and Lily Allen popped up unannounced on the tiny Park stage to wow a small crowd. Bjork, as always, was hatstand, and the show had to be seen to be believed.

Overall a bloody good day, and everyone is ensuring that we all stay smiling… with the aid of a cider or two.

>>read more Glastonbury posts